An Assassin Shinigami
by joealexander167
Summary: Florence, Italy, 16th Century. She has a mission, collect information. He has a mission, prevent leak information. When emotions mix with job things get complicated, specially when his job is... killing.
1. Chapter 1

Hi people, well this is my second story, it's like a combination of usual Bleach with one of my favorite games: _Assassin's Creed 2, _I know that not everyone knows it, so don't worry I won't add any "incomprehensible" stuff to the plot, and if I do I'll make sure I explain it well enough. Please, I'm still new in this stuff of writing so don't be too critical with me! Hope you enjoy poeple . Reviews please ;).

Chapter 1 "A New Mission"

The year is 1515, during the Italian Renaissance, and we find ourselves in the Seretei, with Kuchiki Rukia. She had spent a whole day in the Rukongai in a patrol mission, and she was exhausted, all she wanted to do: take a bath, and sleep a whole week. _Geez, more hollows and I would have fallen asleep in my way home, _she thought tiredly. When she arrived to the Kuchiki manor, a messenger appeared before her bowing with respect and said, "Kuchiki-dono, Yamamoto Genryuusai-sotaicho has ordered a meeting with you and the other captains tomorrow when the sun rises." He handed her a letter with the seal of the First Squad in it.

"Very well, you can go now," she said, and with that, the messenger vanished with a _shunpo. _She entered to the manor, and decided she would take a bath before reading the letter. She entered her room and after closing the door behind her, she stripped the clothes off her and headed for the bathroom, she waited for the bathtub to fill and with the first touch of the water with her skin; she thought there could be nothing better than that at this moment. She spent a whole hour in there before she decided it was enough. She dried herself with a towel and dressed with just her white kimono, which she used to sleep. She remembered the letter that was delivered to her and decided to read it. It was basically what the messenger had told her, except that more explicit and official. She was to present to the First Squad with all the captains, where she would be told about her next mission. _So soon!? Damn, and here I thought I would be taking some free time. _She let out a huge sigh, and decided it was best for her to sleep and enjoy her bed while she could, she would worry about her mission tomorrow…

The next morning, a very bothersome ray of sunlight disrupted her much enjoyed sleep. She groaned loudly at being bothered so soon in the morning. But then her eyes turned wide. _Shit, the meeting! I need to get ready!_ She thought while jumping out of bed and preparing a very fast bath. After she was done she hurried to the First Squad's quarters and took a very deep breathe to calm herself, she wasn't very used to this kind of meeting, so she couldn't help to feel a tad nervous. _Ok, just calm down, it's just another mission, _she said to herself while trying to calm down. She slowly opened the door to see the other captains already aligned in their places, she took a quick glance to her brother, Kuchiki Byakuya, and as always, he didn't even opened his eyes. She bowed in one knee to show her respects to all of her superiors before she was allowed to come inside.

"Kuchiki Rukia of the Thirteenth Division, you may come inside." The Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 said in a deep voice and a tone that denoted power.

"Hi," she responded as calmly as she could, trying not to show her nervousness. _Is it me, or this meeting feels different? _She started to wonder, after noticing a very strange environment around her.

"First of all," he continued, "we would like to congratulate you on your successful patrol mission, the report you sent was very useful for our decision."

"Thank you very much sir, but… decision?" she asked a little confusion to the much older man's statement.

"I think you must have noticed, that this "patrol mission" was a little different form other ones," he said.

"Well, I did notice there were much more hollows than usual, but other than that, I noticed nothing," she replied, still with that confused tone in her voice.

"Exactly, this patrol mission was actually a test, a test to see if you were strong enough to go on this new mission that we are going to assign you."

"I-I'm afraid I don't understand sir," she said, more confused than ever. _What could this mission be that it required testing me?_ She wondered.

"Genryuusai-dono," interrupted Jushiro Ukitake, captain of the Thirteenth Division, "would you mind if I explained to her, I've known her for much time and I think she might understand me much better," he asked with an unusually serious tone.

"Very well Ukitake, you may begin," answered the Captain of the Gotei 13, seemingly unbothered for being interrupted.

He cleared his throat before starting, "Rukia, have you ever heard of the _Assassin's Creed_?" He asked in a less serious tone. She shook her head not having an idea of what he was talking about. "Well, in the human world, there is a group of people that call themselves assassins, they kill people who they judge "disrupt" the balance of power and create chaos, and they've been doing this for a lot of centuries, except they are now much more discreet, apparently after a very strange event within the clan three centuries ago." She could only nod since she had no idea what this had to do with her mission. "They are not very numerous, but they are all incredibly strong fighters, and their mastery with weapons and especially swords are very close to those of a shinigami." Her eyes widened a little bit with his last statement. _Like a shinigami's? They can't be very normal humans_. "And with the use of some strange artifacts they call "Pieces of Eden", they are able to get very uncommon but incredible powers, but they are also very wise, and they never use them, they are sworn enemies of the Templar Knights, whose methods of reaching their goals are, according to the assassins, unacceptable."

"I understand so fur," she finally talked again, "but what does this has to do with my mission?" she asked still very confused.

The captain-commander cleared his throat, indicating that it was his turn to talk, "Until now, the assassin's murders were pretty much justified by now, so we haven't taken any action about it like we did with the quincies. But recently, they have been taking lives which have done nothing wrong, that their actions affected no one in a negative way. We haven't been able to confirm their participation in them, but the _modus operandi_ plus the injuries some of the shinigami that were sent to investigate, are 100% match to the ways of the assassins."

"I see," answered Rukia, STILL confused about pretty much everything, "so what is my part in this mission?"

"Under the recently strange behavior of the assassins, Central 46 has decided that, like with the quincies, the Assassin's Creed must be totally and permanently, eliminated. But the assassins are powerful, even with our powers, we would loose a lot of men while trying to kill all of them, and even if we did win, there would be a lot of survivors that would manage to escape." He cleared his throat before continuing his speech. "So, this is your mission… Kuchiki Rukia, you are to go to the human world, infiltrate the assassin's organization, gather all the information you can get, and deliver it to us so we can confirm their participation in the murder of this innocent men, and so we are able to give a surprise attack to them, and eliminate them with the least possible amount of soldiers in case they are guilty, do you understand?" he asked in the most serious tone you can imagine, it was more of an order for her to understand than a question.

_Yep, this isn't going to be a normal mission, _she thought. "Yes sir I understand and I thank you for trusting me on this mission" she answered while bowing to him.

"Very well, you are to meet your captain, Ukitake-taicho, at noon for you to receive the details and information you're going to need. You are to depart to Florence, Italy in two days, so prepare yourself well, and good luck… This meeting is over, you are all dismissed." And with a hit to the floor with his cane, the meeting was officially over.

She walked outside the meeting hall and realized she was very hungry, it was very early and she hadn't had breakfast, plus it she wouldn't have to meet her captain until an hour later. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her shoulder gently; she turned to see her captain smiling at her.

"Hi Rukia, you want to have breakfast with me? After that we might talk about your mission," he asked nicely. Her stomach's growl answered for her a second later, which caused her to blush deeply. He laughed a little bit before continuing, "I'll take that as a yes, come with me." He signaled her to follow him, which he did. After arriving to the Thirteenth Squad's quarters, she had a very pleasant morning with her captain, they remembered about old memories (emphasize on the "old"), like the day she arrived to the squads, some fun memories about Kaien, whose memory brought sadness and happiness combined to her.

"So captain, about the mission," she said after a while of talking, she spent a whole two hours talking with him, and trying to stop Kiyone and Sentaro from killing each other for their captain's attention.

"Oh yes, of course," he cleared his throat before continuing, "for you to complete your mission, you must enter the assassin's organization."

"I understand," she stated.

"But, there are only three ways to enter the creed: one, you must be the son or daughter of a current member; two, you must save the life of one of the assassins; or three, you must show yourself in battle ability in front of a current member, and you must prove him that your intentions are pure and that you agree with their cause. In your case, you can only expect to accomplish one of the last two ways to enter, since you know nobody within the clan."

"They really seem to have good intentions, it's a little hard to believe they turned to the dark side," she said after her captain finished.

"And that is why we are sending you, for you to find out the truth about this, and for us to take action if necessary. I was actually very surprised also, I've studied them for a while now, and they never seemed to have dark intentions, but they also have a lot of secrets. So back to the mission, when you arrive to Florence, you are going to meet a man named Urahara Kisuke; he is to be trusted and will help in your mission in whatever you need."

"I see, so who is he, or was?" she asked before taking a sip of her tea.

"He is the former captain of the Twelfth Division and the creator of the Research Department before he was exiled of supposed treachery against the Gotei 13," he stated calmly like it was an everyday story. But it wasn't for Rukia; she almost choked herself in tea after hearing those words. "What?! He is an ex-captain?" she said after getting back her air. "And he was exiled? Captain… can I really trust him?" she asked with worried eyes. "Haha, don't you worry about that, I never believed what they accused him for, I always thought he was a nice man and a trustworthy one also, so yes, you can trust him."

"Ok captain, I will trust if you say I can. But, may I ask you a question captain?"

"Sure, ask as you please."

"Thank you sir. Ummm, how did you manage to convince my brother? I know that he pulls the strings when concerning my missions. And I'm surprised that he agreed to a life-threatening mission for me," she asked curiously, she actually wondered how they convinced him, being… well… him!

This time he gave an even louder laugh before answering, "we actually discussed this with him for SEVEN WHOLE HOURS, in a meeting that was supposed to be a two hours-max long." _Yeah I should have imagined, _she thought. "But I told him how much you've improved and that you could be trusted with this mission," he said with a gentle smile in his face, which made Rukia blush slightly. "Thank you very much sir," she answered with a bow.

"Well for now, you should take the rest of the day off, meet with your friends, and… pretty much enjoy yourself since you're leaving for quite a long time."

"Thank you sir, I think I'll go see Rangiku-san, if someone knows how to have a good time, it's her."

"Yeah that's very true, I'll go see you for your departure, goodbye and good luck Rukia," he said while giving another gentle smile to her (looks like he never gets it out of his face).

She started thinking about her mission while she walked to the Tenth Division's quarters. _I should take a chance and say goodbye to everyone since I won't be seeing them for a while… _

When reaching the door she slightly knocked the door hoping to find Rangiku in there.

"Come in," came Toshiro's voice as a response.

"Excuse me sir," she said while bowing, "do you happen to know where Matsumoto-fukutaicho is?"

"Che, if you find out tell me, haven't seen her in the whole day, she must be in that bar near the Eleventh Division."

"I see, thank you sir, I'll go find her."

She started walking to the bar Toshiro mentioned, she wasn't used to call him "taicho" so she just called him "sir", it felt a little less awkward, even if she knew he was really powerful. After reaching the bar, she found exactly what she was looking for, Rangiku… drunk.

"Heeeeeey, Rouukeeeey-HIC-aaaaaah, how aaaare youuuuu?" she asked totally drunk but with her typical cheery voice. She was with Kira and Renji, which were both already passed out. _She sure knows how to hold her alcohol. _"Hi Rangiku, I just finished my meeting with Ukitake-taicho about my new mission," she said.

"Oooooh yeah, I heaaard-HIC-about thaaaat, my captain informed me about your mission! Congratulations Rukiaaaa! You might get a promotion if you succeed!!" she said while choking her with her huge breasts in a hug, and trying to sober enough for a conversation.

(Cough cough) "Thank you Rangiku-san, hope I don't mess this up."

"Oh don't you worry you silly, you'll be just fine!! Plus you might meet a very handsome boy and enjoy yourself while you do your mission, they say boys in Italy are really hot!!!" she said with a wink, which made Rukia blush.

"D-don't be ridiculous!! I'm not going there on a vacation, this is a serious mission!!" she said still with a blush in her cheeks.

"Ooooh, don't be sooo party-pooper, you're spending a lot of time there so you might as well enjoy yourself while you're in it, you already have the body of a 19 years old human, and I knoooow that you are still a virgin." Rukia's face couldn't be redder, she turned to the sides to see if anyone had heard her comment, but she seemed safe.

"P-please, I have no time for boys, so leave me alone!" she turned to face her but she had passed out. "Geez, you really should leave alcohol." She went outside and decided she would send someone for her passed out friends. She decided she would rest the rest of the day, and she would spend the rest of her free time with her friends. _Hopefully she won't remember our conversation tomorrow._

_To be continued…_

Well people here is the first chapter of my new story, hope you liked it. Reviewing doesn't take long people so please, REVIEW!! ;P.


	2. Comune di Firenze

**Hi again people, hope you're enjoying yourselves ;P. By the way I need to ask you something my readers, what do you think of my way of writing? Remember I'm still somewhat of a noob and your opinions count a lot for me. If you have the time to review tell me what you think of the story and if I should make longer chapters please. Your opinion counts people! Enjoy and don't forget to review ****!**

_Ch. 2: Comune di Firenze…_

A knock… in the door. A knock in the door was the thing that disrupted her long deserved sleep. _Ohhhhh, come on! This is my last free day before my mission! _She thought while planning how to kill the one that woke her up. _I'll make him suffer._

"Kuchiki Rukia-sama!" called the servant, "Kuchiki Byakuya-sama is calling for an audience with you in his study!"

Not a second later, the door was open with her totally dressed, "I'm on my way." She didn't even let the servant say goodbye. _Well… I can dream, can't I?_ She reached her brother's study as fast as she could, knowing he was no man to be kept waiting. She opened the door and noticed he was looking at a photo of Hisana. It had been at her 18th birthday (or 180th if you make the right calc) when he told her the truth about her sister, it hit her like a very angry horse had kicked her in the face. She bowed in one knee and talked, "nii-sama, did you wish to speak with me?"

He stopped looking at the photo and turned to face her, "you might raise Rukia," he said, "yes, I wished to speak with you concerning your mission." _Oh-oh, I don't like where this is going, hope he doesn't change his mind, this is a great opportunity. _"What is it brother?" she said with a somewhat nervous tone, but hidden enough for him not to notice. "I've been thinking these last days about reconsidering to let you go to this mission, you won't have your powers while interacting with the humans, and if you are discovered, you might get killed before you even notice." _Shit, please don't._ "But… I wanted to hear from your mouth that you consider yourself trained enough for a mission of this caliber." _Well, at least he IS giving me a chance... _

"Brother, before I say anything, I want to know. Do you consider me powerful enough?" she asked, NOW with an evident nervousness, but it was something she really wanted to know.

"… my answer will depend on how you answer, Rukia," he said, not even a decibel of change in his voice.

"I see. Well, for starters, I know I have received all necessary training and more for being a Kuchiki, even if I didn't go though the hard tests my comrades did." She said, a tad shaking, but confidence was gaining power within her. "Second, I have plenty confidence in my sword, my abilities, and myself, and I know I would never fail any mission that I'm sure I am capable of doing." She let out a huge sigh before continuing, but the confidence in her voice was now obvious. "So yes brother, I DO consider myself powerful and prepared enough for this mission."

He stared directly at her eyes, emotionlessly as always, as if testing her, looking for any sign of contradiction in her eyes to what she had just said. After finding nothing but pure seriousness he continued, "I can see that you are truly confident in your abilities… very well, my mind is now clear, I consider you powerful enough for this mission Rukia. And I trust you that you will accomplish it perfectly… Let me tell you, Hisana would be proud…"

Her eyes widened with his last statement, he actually showed… appreciation, a feeling she thought he was impossible to have, but she couldn't help to let out a huge smile, "tha-thank you very much sir! I promise I won't fail you!" And with that, she left. She couldn't think of anything better than getting ready for her trip. All she needed to do: say goodbye to her friends, since she would be leaving tonight… _but before I do anything, I'm going to sleep._ She was still tired by how abruptly she was awakened, so being tired was just natural. She decided she would go with her captain after a long sleep.

She woke up way advanced the day, the sun was slowly hiding behind the horizon, and she could catch a beautiful sunset behind her window. _So nice… I hope there are sunsets like this one in Florence… _She thought it was maybe too late for her to visit her captain, but she really wanted to tell him what her brother had just told her.

When she arrived to the Thirteenth Squad's quarters, she knocked the door but nobody answered. Strange, it's too soon for the captain to be asleep already. She opened the door slowly and noticed it was pitch dark, not a single light. "Hello? Is anybody there?" she asked.

"SURPRISE!!!!"

_HOLY SHIT!! _Was the only thing that crossed her mind after almost receiving a heart attack. All of her friends (Hinamori, Rangiku, Kiyone, Sentaro, Renji, Kira, Hisagi, Rangiku, Kyoraku and her captain) were there in a nicely decorated office, accompanied by a huge sing hanged in the ceiling that said: _Good luck in your mission, we'll miss you!! _"Ohhh guys," she said with a small tear falling by her eye, "you-you didn't have to do this."

Her captain slowly started walking to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "of course we had to, you're leaving a very long time after all, and we don't want you to think we don't care." He said with a gentle smile. "Come one Rukia," said Renji with a huge smile, "let's go and have some fun!!"

"Yeah Rukia!! I brought a looooot of sake!" shouted Rangiku cheerily, obviously happy for having an excuse to throw a wild party. "Plus, this will be your last time having a party with us, so don't come me with: _not thanks I don't want sake," _she said while showing a cup of sake in front of Rukia. First she was a little nervous about drinking but… _Oh what the hell!? _She thought, taking not the cup, but the BOTTLE and drinking DIRECTLY from it. "Woohoo!! That's how you do it girl!!" shouted Ran, not wasting another second and taking another bottle of sake.

_Not too far away, in the tenth squad…_

_Captain, sorry for not being there today but a friend is leaving for a while and we need to plan her goodbye party. _

_-Love, Matsumoto Rangiku (with a drawing of her sending a wink)_

"… MATSUMOTOOOO!!!!"

_Back to the Thirteenth Squad…_

10 hours… from 10:00 to 8:00 everything was pure fun and dancing in the whole Thirteenth Squad. Everything was a mess, Rangiku was in a couch totally drunk, Hisagi was in a corner asleep with a lamp covering his head, Kira was… lets say he was… _lost_, Renji was also asleep in a chair, Kyoraku was over the table with… you don't wanna know, Kiyone and Sentaro were asleep back to back, and Rukia was barely awake trying to have a conversation with her captain… "Heyyyy captaaaain, thissss, was one helluva parrrrty." She said, trying to stay awake. "I'm gonna missss you aaaaall people, I loooove you!!" She turned to see her captain, but he too had succumbed to the effects of alcohol, he was deep asleep in his chair… _Maybe I'll join everyone… _and with that, she fell asleep…

It wasn't until 8 hours later when somebody had the… "delicacy"… to wake her up from her sleep. She let out a huge yawn followed by a groan. _Damn, talking about hangovers… _She tried to open an eye to see the one that woke her up. It was the captain of the Fourth Division, Unohana Retsu, with a cup in her hand. "U-unohana-taicho, what-what are you doing here?" she asked, rather surprised by seeing her.

"Good morning dear," she said with a warm smile, "here, take this; it will help you with the hangover." She handed her the cup with the medicine. _Hmmm, smells like lemon. _"Thank you very much, Unohana-taicho, I hope our little party didn't disturb you much in the night." She said before drinking the liquid.

"Oh, don't worry about that dear," she said, still with a nice smile, "what mattered in that moment is that you had fun with your friends. And besides, you should rest while you can and get ready, you leave in 5 hours, you'll arrive there in the night so you will be tired, and the captain-commander asked me to give this to you." She said while taking an envelope out of her sleeve and giving it to her. "What is this?" she said while examining the object, the medicine seemed to be taking its effect, or at least she was feeling a lot less the hangover.

"It is a letter to Urahara Kisuke-san from the so-taicho, telling him some last details, you must give it to him at your arrival, and he will give you some aid and other things while you find your way inside the organization of the assassins."

"I see, thank you for the trouble, Unohana-taicho." She said with a bow.

"Do not worry dear, and by the way, you should be getting ready. Go to your manor while I wake up everyone else, we will be waiting for you at the Senkaimon Gate when you leave."

"Thank you for everything, captain." She said before leaving to her manor. When she arrived, she packed everything she needed (well, she didn't need much things so mostly it was just chappy stuff). She guessed she would be provided with everything she needed when she arrived with the ex-captain, so she only packed one suitcase. She went to the Senkaimon gate and everyone was there waiting for her. They all seemed very happy for her, knowing that accomplishing this mission would be very beneficial.

Before leaving, she gave hugs to everyone (Hinamori's and Rangiku's being especially suffocating for different reasons) "I'll miss you!!!" they both say while hugging and loudly crying out tears, both of sadness and happiness for her. When she reached with Renji he whispered something to her ear, "I have something for you when you return." She raised an eyebrow at this, not understanding her friend, "what is it?" she asked. "He, you'll know when you return," was his only response. She only nodded after hearing this, not wanting to take the subject any further, though it did gained her curiosity. She faced the Senkaimon gate and took a deep breathe before going in…

_In the airspace of Florence, Italy…_

A strange and big glowing rectangle could be seen, only by the trained eye, above Florence, followed by two doors that opened one after the other. A black butterfly emerged from it followed by a human figure in a black kimono with a katana. Kuchiki Rukia had finally arrived to Florence. _So this is Florence… _She was marveled by the beautiful scene of an Italian Renaissance city. She could see the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, The Mercato Vecchio, The Palazzo Della Signoria, The Gotto's Campanile, The Santa Maria del Fore, and so many other buildings it would just take the whole story to name. _It's just… incredible… _she thought while admiring the city.

She went to the floor level to get a better view of the city near the Mercato Vecchio, and the enchantment of the city was no less seeing it from the ground that from the air. Art merchants sold beautiful art pieces, tailors were offering the ladies the finest silk, blacksmiths were talking to the mercenaries about the latest swords, street doctors were selling medicine and curing small injuries, huge markets were selling the most fresh fruits, courtesans* were… well… talking to other men, brothels were being entered by the second by more men, mercenaries and thieves were watching from the dark or escaping from the city guards, everything seemed so typical and strangely peaceful for the people of Florence, it was a view that could surprise any newcomer, _her_ included.

_Well… taicho said that his store should be somewhere near the Mercato. Oh there it is…_ she said to herself while seeing the building that said _Negozio Urahara. _She walked to the small store while wondering what kind of man would be Kisuke Urahara. _I just hope he's not as crazy as Mayuri…_

She opened the wooden door, and a bell made a ring sound, presumably telling the workers a customer had arrived. A few moments later, a little girl with two tails to both sides of her head and wearing peasant robes came to from a door behind the counter. It seemed she could see her and didn't seemed surprise at all by her presence, it looks like the girl was well aware of the shinigami world.

"Kisuke-san!" she called, "the shinigami has arrived!" she bowed slightly before leaving through the same door. Another minute or two a man with a Japanese looking outfit came from the door, it was light green with a darker robe, and he was wearing a hat with green and white straps and clogs.

"Araaaa," he said, "so this is the famous Kuchiki Rukia, so nice to meet you," he said while extending his hand to her. Her first impression of him… _this guy is a lazy ass_… but it was a actually a good one too, he seemed like he could be trusted. "Hi, nice to meet you too," she said while shaking his hand, "I look forward to be working with you."

"Oh but you will only be seeing me for a short time, but lets go somewhere more comfortable while talking about this, lets go to the other room." He guided her to the room that was after the door. She thought he must feel very nostalgic about the Japanese way of living, because everything was decorated that way. There were sliding doors, the table was very small with pillows around it, it seemed that except for the store in the front, he was living in Japan.

After sitting, the same girl that received her in the front came with two cups of tea. "Here," she said. "Thank you." "Thanks Ururu." She bowed to both of them before leaving. "So," he began, "how much of this mission do you know Rukia-san?"

"I know pretty much everything," she stated, "I must find my way in the organization of the assassins, gain their trust, and find the evidence that will prove that they have or they haven't been committing those horrible murders."

"I see," he took a deep breathe before continuing, after which he took a fan out of his sleeve and put it in front of his face, "I must warn you Rukia-san, these are not people to be messed with, even if their intentions seem to be good, they will do anything to protect their secrecy, and if they discover you, you will be killed before you can even think of defending yourself," he said with a serious tone, it seemed he became the serious man when taking out his fan…

"I have been warned of all the dangers that implicate this mission, and also that it might take years, but I accept it, and I promised my brother I would accomplish this mission," she said with total confidence.

"Aahhh yes, the famous Kuchiki Byakuya, I've heard of him," he said while ventilating himself with his fan. "I understand, take a look at this," he said while taking a small painting out of his pocket. "This is how the outfit of an assassin looks like." She took a very good look to the small painting, the suit was a white robe that covered all the way from the knees, to the hood that ended in a triangle, resembling an eagle against the sun, the face of the man could not be seen, like it was made to hide its face, a very big belt with a silver triangle with the two lower angles curved was surrounding the robe with an eagle looking like figure above it. Also, the man was wearing leather boots, a leather strap from the right shoulder to the lower-left part of the stomach, and a cape that hanged from the left shoulder covering the entire left arm.

"Looks… extravagant," she said, rather surprised with the impressive looking outfit. "Ha ha, yeah I know what you mean," he said while smiling, "and if we are lucky you are going to be wearing one very soon."

"Yeah… I hope so," she said before going in deep thought. She realized the mission would be very difficult, not only physically, but emotionally, she would have to become like a family with those people for them to trust her, and at the end she would be betraying them. In a second her opinion of herself lowered a bit…

"Well Kuchiki-san," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts, "you should rest for tonight since you're having a very busy day tomorrow, I already made Ururu prepare you a room." Not a second later Ururu was in the door waiting for her, "please follow me," she said.

"Well Urahara-san, I'll see you tomorrow," she said while standing up. "Have a good night, you'll need it…"

The hallway was no different from the room she had just been in, Japanese-looking. Ururu stopped in the middle and showed her inside her room, "please have a good night, Rukia-sama," she said while bowing. "Thanks a lot Ururu, have a good night."

She placed her zanpakuto in a corner and took off her black kimono, before going to the futon. _Well, tomorrow is one hell of a new day,_ she thought before falling asleep…

_To be continued…_

**Well here was the second chapter, hope you liked it, I really like this idea of combing both stories and I hope you like it too :D. By the way if you can't figure out how the assassin's outfit looks like, just go to Google/images, and search for **_**Assassins Creed 2**_** (emphasize on the 2, since they are different from the ones in the first version.) Well that's all for now, REVIEW PEOPLE PLEASE!! ;P.**


	3. Amico di un Assassino

**Hi again my readers, hope you are enjoying the story until now :D. Just wanted to remind you that if you still can't understand something that I explain in the story, I'm going to put in at the end where you can look to get a better idea, especially when describing any clothes, since they are the hardest to explain for me. Well, enjoy the chapter and don't forget to REVIEW XD.**

_Ch. 3: Amico di un Assassino _

Between the huge amounts of people in front of the Palazzo de la Signoria, a short but beautiful figure with mid-long dark-raven hair and a pair of penetrating violet eyes wearing a long peach peasant clothing was finding her way through the huge city of Florence.

Kuchiki Rukia was now trying to know her way through the streets of the city, but it was difficult to memorize all of the buildings, each and every single of them was different. And to make it worse, she still wasn't used to her the Gigai Urahara had given her. _Damn, it still hurts to move sometimes…_

_Flashback…_

"Wha-what the hell is that?!," she asked wide eyed when seeing an exact copy of herself in the hands of Kisuke.

"Oh this?" he asked nonchalant, "this is a _gigai, _as I call it, and it is an artificial body where your soul will be able to enter. While being inside, people will be able to see you, talk with you and _feel_ you," he said with a grin and raising his eyebrows.

She sent him a death glare before taking a good look at the gigai, "so, does this gigai has any special power?" she asked while wondering how would she be able to defend herself in a normal human body.

"Nope, I opted for safe and simple, you _might _be able to make your body remember how to handle a sword and to have a good physical condition, but nothing like when you are a shinigami."

"I see, very well, I'll use it after I get a bath, if I'm lucky I will be able to find an assassin, and if I'm double lucky I'll somehow make him let me join them."

"Ok, I'll tell Ururu to prepare the water," he said with his typical smile.

_End of Flashback…_

Rukia was right now in the Mercato Vecchio trying to find any signs of an assassin in the zone. _Damn, this ain't gonna be easy_… she thought while seeing the huge amount of people, every single one with a different outfit. She could see art merchants, tailors, courtesans, blacksmiths, but no white robes. And to make it worse, Urahara had told her that assassins didn't use the white assassin outfit always, they could seem to be normal people, doing normal things, and going to normal places, like their lives didn't revolve around the word _death_.

She was getting desperate and she thought that it would take months and a lot of luck to find an assassin at this rate. _This is ridiculous!!_... she thought… _how am I supposed to find a master of stealth assassination, I think not even our Special Ops are as good in hiding. NO! Stay calm; you are a Kuchiki, Kuchikis never loose control. _She took a deep breathe and continued her search.

Suddenly, after four long hours of annoying and disappointing search without any positive results, she noticed a couple of city guards in front of the main entrance of the basilica _Santa Maria del Fiore, _they werewearing silver armors and red clothes in the uncovered parts, and they were molesting a young woman in the middle of the plaza.

"No! Please leave me alone!" she begged while trying to release herself from the men's strong grip, but she wasn't strong enough.

"You dare to steal in my presence! That will cost you your life!" shouted one of the guards.

Without a warning, another guard gave her an enormous evil grin before grabbing her breast with all of his force. "Aaahh!! Pleaseee don't!!" she screamed before starting to cry, but she only gained that the guard started laughing maliciously…

"BASTARD!!!" was the only thing the same guard heard before a small but firm fist hit him with an incredible force on his face. The punch was so hard it made him fall… coincidently… in a huge mountain of manure. Every single person nearby almost choked themselves in absolute laughter after witnessing such a hilarious moment…

"Aaargh!!" shouted the guard after standing up and trying to take the manure off him. Then he turned to see who was the person who dared to mock him in front of so many people. He found out immediately when looking to a small woman with violet eyes, frowning at him with crossed arms.

"YOU!!!" he screamed angrily, "I'LL MAKE SURE YOU DON'T FORGET THIS!!" He took a fighting position, threatening the much smaller person before him to go away before he got serious, but Rukia didn't even flinch…

_Ok Rukia, lets see if you remember how to fight… _She too took a fighting stance, and prepared herself mentally for the fight. _Remember what Ukitake-taicho taught you about hand to hand combat... _

Then, without a warning, the guard tried to send a punch with his left hand. _Ok, easy to cover… _She used both of her arms to deflect the hit, and quickly counted cross his left cheek with her right fist. The guard, seemingly unaffected, tried to sent another cross, but she deflected it easily again. _Damnit, the helmet won't let me reach the ears… _

With the second she gained after deflecting the punch, she hit him with a 360 degrees kick in the head, knocking off the guard's helmet. The guard began to notice that he wasn't the one winning the fight. But it wasn't over yet, the second he let his guard off, she extended her arms, and hit him in the ears with both hands open. This caused his eardrums to explode, leaving him stunned, with no balance, which sent him to the need of leaning against the nearest wall, and with such a pain in his ears and head, that anyone would think he was having the hangover of his life. _And finally… _she took a step back, before coming with all of her strength and knocking the guard off his feet with a punch to his face, along with the sound of his nose breaking, and leaving the wall with a huge crack…

"HA! That's what you get for molesting women!" she shouted victoriously, pointing to the unconscious man in the floor, she was definitely very proud of herself. But then she remembered… there wasn't just one guard.

"WOMAN! THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE!" shouted another one of the guards, before drawing his sword out of its scabbard. "Might this woman's dead show everyone that we are to be RESPECTED!"

_Damn… these guys are serious._ She also took a fighting position but now for taking out her own katana, but her eyes only widened to the realization… _Shit! I'm not a shinigami! _Her face was now showing a huge amount of scare, she thought she was going to die, and she had barely spent 2 or 3 days in her mission. She watched horrified as the guard was now getting closed, and raising his sword, ready to hit her with all his force.

But she would soon realize that this day… luck was more than just on her side…

"ASSASSINO!!" Everyone, including her and the guard, turned to see with wide eyes to the person who had shouted that, it was a guard, pointing to the ceiling of one of the buildings. Immediately after looking at him, everyone turned their heads to the place he was pointing at…

It was a scene that could amaze anyone…

In the ceiling of a house, in front of the Basilica's sideway, the figure of a person could be seen against the sun, making impossible for them to see the person's face. Rukia couldn't resist a huge smile from forming in her face when realizing that she was now getting the best chance she would ever have. _White robe, leather garments, silver triangle in the belt, YES, I FOUND YOU!! _She thought, almost jumping out of joy.

But her face suddenly became horrified, when the figure jumped into the air, extending its arms, resembling an eagle against the sun. _NO! What is he doing, trying to kill himself?! _The man started to fall after a second of moving in slow motion, only to land in two of the guard's… chests, knocking them over in a second with the sound of their heads against the concrete. _Oh, of course, masters of assassination… _

After slowly rising from the men's chests, he turned to face the other guards. He raised his hands and revealed two hidden blades that were behind his wrists, scaring… literally… _the shit out of their asses. _

"Pull back! Pull back!" shouted one of the guards, most probably the captain, and they quickly obeyed, running like a bunch of ladies...

After they were out of sight, the assassin hid his blades again behind his arms. Rukia had witnessed the entire event, she couldn't have been more surprised (or have her eyes more wide) after such a performance of strength and ability. Then she realized she was missing her chance of talking to the assassin, _Damn, I need to get to talk with him… _

"Hey, you!" she shouted, hoping for a response. But after turning to see who called him, the assassin quickly turned and started to run.

"No, wait! I only want to talk with you!" _His eyes… were amber…_ Her eyes widened when she realized she wasn't chasing him. _SHIT! _It wasn't much time that she spent in the moon, so with a little effort she was able to catch up with him, pushing people to the sides, breaking a couple of boxes in the way, and of course, receiving curses for not being careful.

_Yes! I'll catch him before he losses me! _She thought, proud of herself. But then, the assassin did the unthinkable, he started to climb… the walls. Window after window, brick after brick, and balcony after balcony he climbed like his life depended on it. _OMG! Who the hell is this guy?! SPIDERMAN!?!?... Wait no, he hasn't been created… _

She did all she could to keep him on sight, but it reached a moment when she too was forced to climb the buildings. _Well shinigami training, time to put you in a good use… _

With all of her strength, she grabbed herself of a loose brick, then used her legs to climb to the nearest window, and finally to a balcony before reaching the ceiling. After a second of catching up her air, she turned her head to all sides to see if he was at sight. She saw him not too far away in the same line of buildings, so she quickly started to chase him again. This time it was easier for both of them to run, since there were almost no obstacles, just a couple of chimneys, but she started to feel the effects of all the effort. _Damn it, I'm starting to loose my air…_

The assassin started to climb from one line of buildings to another one. Soon, they reached another church, but the same church was pasted against two buildings that joined in their corners, so he had no way to run anymore. _Urgh, finally! _But the assassins wasn't putting it easy for her, he still wasn't let without a route of escape, he started to climb the bell tower using loose bricks.

_Oh, come on! Don't you ever rest!? _She thought angrily, and with almost no air left. She too started to use the bricks to climb the tower, and realize this was finally the end of the road… _Well, at least he saved me the effort of cornering him, now I'll be able to at least talk._

After a while of climbing the tower, she reached the top, and the assassin was waiting for her…

"Wow, you… sure are… one hell of a tough guy… to catch," she said while trying to catch her air. She could see he smirked to her comment.

"And who may I ask," he said, allowing her to hear his soft, but also a little egocentric voice, "told you that I have already given up?"

She could only raise an eyebrow, totally confused, since she knew there was no other way to run. "What are you talking about?" she asked, "There is no other way around."

The assassin gave her a huge grin before he started to walk backwards into a wooden plank that extended out of the tower's ceiling. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was going to do. "Wait! What do you think you're doing? This isn't just another house!"

The only response she got was a wave with the hand, before he slowly started to fall backwards. "NO!" she screamed. She quickly went to the border of the plank and watched that he had landed… in a pile of straw…

She turned to see the sky and let out a huge sigh. _So these are the assassins, this isn't going to be an easy mission… _she though, disappointed with herself for loosing such an opportunity.

Suddenly, she heard a strong cracking sound and she realized she was now a little lower than ceiling. _Oh god… _was the only thing she could think before the plank she was standing at broke totally, sending her to fall to the ground. She started to scream, but she knew there was no one that could save her now, and her life started to pass in front of her. Images of her training with Kaien, having fun with her captain and her friends passed before her.

When she saw that the ground was getting closer, she shut her eyes not wanting to see the moment she crashed. But instead of feeling hard concrete… she felt two strong arms holding her.

Slowly opening her eyes, she could see two amber eyes staring deeply at her. From anyone's point of view; it seemed the assassin was more astonished by her beauty, than when he saw her falling from the bell tower.

"He, didn't your mom told you that it's dangerous to get near the border of a ceiling?" he said, with a smirk in his face.

"That's totally my line," she answered back, also with a smirk in her face. After a while of looking deeply to each other's eyes, she realized they were still in a very compromising position.

"Ummm, you can put me back to ground now," she said.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that." He carefully let her legs go, letting her stand up on her own. After taking look at her surroundings, she noticed there was no one on sight. Then she quickly turned back to see if the man had not ran away yet again.

"Ha ha! Don't worry midget I won't run away-ARGH!" he was interrupted by a hard slap to the back of his head. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" he asked angrily.

"Don't you ever dare to call me a midget again!" she said with a hand in her hips and another one pointing directly at his face.

She only got a small laugh as a response. "He, what's your name _midget_?" he asked with a mocking tone and a grin on his face.

"Kuchiki Rukia, and you?" she asked while sending him a death glare.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," he said while extending his hand. He would soon regret calling her a midget.

While shaking his hand she answered with a huge grin on her face, "It's nice to meet you… _strawberry._"

She only took a groan as a response… and she started to laugh loudly in front of him. Ichigo took a good look at her face and body while she was laughing, and he was very amazed by what he saw… _Damn, she IS pretty_… he thought.

"HE WAS SEEN NEAR THIS AREA, SEARCH FOR HIM!" The assassin's eyes widened after hearing this. "Shit! Sorry midget, I must go!" he said before starting to run to the nearest street, leaving the woman before him totally confused.

"WAIT! I need to talk to you!" she shouted after trying to chase after him.

"MEET ME AT THE PALAZZO MEDICI TOMORROW AT 3 O'CLOCK!" was the only thing she could hear before loosing sight of him through the huge amount of people in the next street.

She let out a huge sigh before heading back to the Negozio Urahara.

After arriving, she noticed the sun was now starting to hide and she was very sleepy. She entered through the back door, and she was received by Urahara.

"Araaaa, Kuchiki-san, how was your day?!" he asked with his usual cheery-annoying voice.

"Productive," she answered, "It seems luck was with me today."

He took out his fan and gave her an interest look, "Hohoo, and what might have happened today that grabbed your interest?"

"To be short, I will meet an assassin tomorrow at 3 o'clock at the Palazzo Medici."

"Ah yes, the Palazzo Medici, I've heard that the Medici Family is very close to the assassins, though I've never acquired a prove myself," he said while waving his fan.

"I'm very tired, I have yet another important day tomorrow, but I'm glad it's like that, at least I know now that I won't waste the next few months searching desperately to at least find an assassin."

"I see, I'll tell Ururu to prepare you a bath, since I believe that you wouldn't be able to talk to an assassin without running for a while."

"Thank you Urahara. But before I go, let me ask you a question. If I get to enter the organization, I don't think they will let me go wherever I want, and since I will be new, I think they'll keep an eye on me for a while. How will I be able to communicate with you?"

He took the fan in front of his face and let a huge sigh, "I'm afraid that after you enter the organization, the next time you meet me… it will be when your mission is finished, and you have acquired the necessary evidence to prove if the assassins have or haven't committed those cruel murders around Europe. And that, will take a while…"

"… I see. Very well, I will see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night, Kuchiki-san…" And with that, she left to take a long deserved bath and to fall in a deep sleep…

_To be continued…_

**Hey people wassup :D! Hope you're enjoying the story until now, my chapters are getting longer as the story advances, soon the chapters will be VERY LONG. But hey! The longer the chapters the more there's to enjoy ;D. And before you start asking: **_**how the hell did he catch her!? **_**Lets just say the tower wasn't that tall XD. Please review, remember I get better with them :D! By the way. Remember to ask anything you don't understand!**


	4. Infiltrazione Nella Fraternità

**Hey people :D, again, I hope you're enjoying the story until now :P. Well, from now on more ichiruki stuff will happen. Tell me what you think please; remember I get better with your REVIEWS!**

_Ch. 4 __Infiltrazione Nella Fraternità_

The Palazzo Medici… symbol of a Renaissance Italy, influenced in Roman architecture, and home to the rulers Florence. But, for Kuchiki Rukia, a shinigami, a current peasant, a woman, and a soon-to-be assassin, it was the door to a new world. Shall she cross that door; any chances of regret would be useless… well, that was if she could at least get though the front gate…

"Password," commanded the guard behind the gates of the palace.

"Uuuh, what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You need a password to be able to pass through this gate. Who invited you?"

"Ummm, Kurosaki Ichigo, he told me to meet him here at 3 o'clock."

"There is no Kurosaki Ichigo in this palace. Go away peasant!" he ordered, before returning to his guard post.

_Damnit! Did he lied to me? _She asked to herself… _No, that can't be, I need to find a way into the palace and try to find him, I can't go back without anything at all!_

After surrounding the palace several times to find an opening, she finally saw an open window in a blind spot, out of the guard's line of vision. After several pushes, jumps, and almost-falls, she could finally reach the window, and enter the palace…

She landed on what seemed to be a hallway in the 2nd floor, decorated with several windows, paintings, and other decorations sculpted in the walls. She leaned closer to one of the windows, and realized the palace was a lot bigger when you see it from the inside. A huge garden in the center of the palace covered most of the whole building. It was decorated with trees, a concrete pass way, and a statue at the entrance of the garden.

Realizing she was being too distant with her surroundings, she remembered what she was actually doing there: infiltrating a palace, risking herself to be hanged if discovered, to infiltrate a bigger and more powerful organization later on… _Oaky, lets find that strawberry…_

But as soon as she began to turn around, a cold, small and sharp blade was pressed against her neck from her back…

"A single false move and you won't ever realize when you were killed," threatened a deep and harsh voice.

"Don't say a word and start walking." She gulped and obeyed her captor and started walking along the deserted hallway. She could hear his and her footsteps, and she didn't like any of them both, they seemed to be leading her to a brutal death.

"Stop," he commanded, just in front of a wooden door to their left. He opened the door, and slightly pushed her inside with the hand that wasn't pressing the knife against her neck.

When they were inside, the room was pitch black, and she couldn't see further than her own nose. But then, the man that was holding her as a captive pressed the knife slightly harder against her throat.

"You did a very good job entering this palace, there's been few people who have dared to try so," he said while slowly taking away the knife from her throat. She closed her eyes thinking it was her end and that her luck was over, "you did well … _midget_."

…

…

"HUUUUH?!"

And out of nowhere, a loud and a little maniac laughter that could be heard miles away literally exploded in her eardrums…

The man lit up a candle, and what Rukia saw was a bright and messy ORANGE hair, plus, the face of the assassin she had just met the day before, choking in laughter before her.

"…Ichigo," she said angrily with a vein popping out her forehead while looking at Ichigo with a death glare, though he seemed not to care…

He was wearing typical Italian clothing, black boots, dark-brown pants, a white shirt with a brown leather vest, and two large and thick dark-brown wristbands that covered from his wrists to the middle part of the arm.

"OH M'GOD, YOU… YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE!!" he said, although with a lot of effort while doing so, considering he hadn't stopped laughing yet…

She watched as the man she thought was her pass to completing her mission was acting like a child, and she even wondered if he was actually an assassin… or just a crazy fan…

"Alright _strawberry, _you and your incredibly messy orange hair can stop laughing already!" she commanded, getting upset, angry, and desperate.

He took several deep breathes to control the laughter, and was finally able to speak clearly after experiencing what he considered to be one of the most hilarious (although a little maniac for most people) moments he's ever experienced.

"O god, I'm… sorry 'bout that, I know, I know it wasn't that cool, but I just couldn't resist," he said while lighting more candles around the room.

"Yeah right… And why the hell didn't you tell me there was a password?! You could have saved A LOT of trouble!"

"Well, if I just gave you the password and let you in, it would've been very boring, wouldn't it?"

"… you totally forgot about the password didn't you?" she asked with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

"What?! No, I didn't," he answered back.

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"YES… YOU DID!"

"… Okay, I admit it, I did," he confessed while raising his hands.

"I KNEW IT! I wonder how you ever made it to be an assassin with that attitude."

But that statement turned his expression to one of such seriousness, that even she felt some regret at making it; his eyes seemed capable of seeing directly into the soul of a person at pure will. He sat at a nearby desk, and stared directly at her eyes while leaning on his hard fists…

"So, what is it that you wished to speak with me?" he asked with a deep and serious voice, nothing like the person that had just mocked her outside the room they were in. It was more… like an assassin's.

_Damn, I heard the assassins could be serious, but he could easily compare himself with my brother, and THAT'S saying a lot…_

She cleared her throat and looked directly at his eyes with the most serious expression she could make, "I'll go straight to the point, I wish to be part of the Assassin Order…"

He looked directly to her violet eyes for a moment before closing his own and letting out a huge sigh. Again, he looked to her eyes before standing up and slowly walking to where she was with his hands on his back, and without taking his eyes off her own.

He slowly grabbed her chin and raised her head to be on the same level. "…Why do you wish to join the Assassin Order?"

She had long waited for that question, and she thought she was well prepared for it… but it looks easier when you just think about it…

"I've heard about you for a long time, and I share your reasons for why you fight corruption, and the templars."

He slowly released her chin and went back to his desk. He leaned on his fists with his eyes closed and started to do what seemed like a deep meditation.

Finally, after what seemed to be a small eternity, he opened his eyes again and looked to her eyes…

"It is not an easy life," he said.

"As far as I know, my life has been everything but easy," she answered back.

"You can't with your current skills," he said while standing up and surrounding the room.

"I can get better, it's not like we are born with the abilities."

"You would have to kill sooner or later."

"I'll learn to deal with it…"

(Knock knock)

They both turned to the door that just interrupted the reunion, but she seemed to be a little more… _relieved_, now that the unbearable tension in the room was, _acceptable_…

"Yes, what is it?" he asked from behind the door.

"Mater Ichigo," called a man, "Master Lorenzo has called a meeting with you."

"Tell him I'm on my way."

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he ordered while going out of the room.

"Wait! What will happen with our conversation?"

"Stay… here!" he said before closing the door.

She blew away a strand of hair from her face in frustration and wondered why in the world it was taking so long to get an answer. _Well, guess that's what happens when you want to join a two millennia global organization that dedicates itself to protect the world through murder…_

_Half an hour later…_

She had decided to look around the room to find anything interesting, and she even hoped to find something relevant to her mission, but discarded the idea when realizing they wouldn't leave her to look around on her own with any important documents in the same room.

_Guess I'll have to wait a little longer…_

Suddenly, the door knob's mechanism started making noise, along with the screeching sound of the wooden door moving.

"Ichigo, what happened?" she asked.

"Come with me Rukia, there's someone you should meet."

He signaled her to follow him, and so she did. They walked across three long hallways before reaching a big, wooden door in the middle of the hallway, and she supposed it leaded to the office of the current leader of Florence, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici.

They entered the room, and near a desk there was a very young man around Ichigo's age staring at a painting near one of the windows. He was wearing a vey expensive-looking outfit, expected from a nobleman, a golden colored shirt surrounded by a light-brown cape, and brown pants and boots, all seemed to be out of the normal peasant's hopes.

"Mr. Lorenzo, sir," called Ichigo, while bowing in one knee.

The man quickly turned around and directed his eyes to both him and Rukia. She decided she would bow when it was her turn to talk.

"Ah, Ichigo," called the man, "and you must be Rukia," he said while turning to see her again.

"E 'un onore signore," she said while bowing.

"Ichigo here speaks quite highly of you, and believe me when I say that it really surprised me when I heard him praising someone." He said it in such a way, that Ichigo couldn't help to blush slightly, and it even made Rukia giggle a little bit, though she did her best not to make it too notorious…

"But young lady," he said with a more serious tone, "our Order is not a place for the weak, I've seen many of my best men die in the hands of Templars. My family has long served this organization, my own grandfather was saved by an assassin once, and our union with them grew even stronger, but the battles we still fight have become no less difficult…"

"I am well aware of the danger that comes with being part of the Order, but my conviction, determination, and hope for a better and peaceful world are no less with or without the danger that comes with it."

She knew those words were mostly for entering the organization to complete her mission, but another part of her really meant it, she hoped that anything she would do while being in the organization would be for a good reason.

"Certainly it seems you have good intentions, and it seems you don't lack the courage and the talent needed, as Ichigo tells me."

"What did he said exactly?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, he told how he was about to save a young woman from the hands of a group of abusive guards, when a petite and beautiful woman won him the chance to do so," he said while moving his hands, like mocking the way Ichigo had told him the story…

"Wha-What?! I didn't say that!!" interrupted Ichigo, but the ruler of Florence seemed to be enjoying the teasing. What was happening in Rukia's face? Oh nothing, it was just turning redder and redder by the second.

"He also told me how he lost his temper when seeing how your life would be threatened by the, _guard bastards, _and he couldn't help to intervene."

"Lorenzoooooo," menaced Ichigo angrily, though it seemed like when you menaced a mocking friend.

"…and how he was lost your pair of violet eyes when he saved you from a horrible death in the chapel."

"If you weren't the ruler of Florence I would…" But the comment only made Lorenzo start laughing.

_This two are like brothers…_

"Ahh, excuse me?" she called after realizing the meeting was getting a little too awkward.

Both of them quickly turned to her and regained their composure after clearing their throats.

"Oh, sorry about that young lady," said Lorenzo, "I just couldn't help to do it after the story Ichigo told me about you."

"Yeah, remember me never to tell you another story, you might as well turn it to a book and publish it," said Ichigo.

"Don't give me ideas Ichigo," he answered back. "Now, on to our main theme," he said more seriously.

"Kuchiki Rukia, from both of our eyes, you seem to be a trustworthy, strong woman with a lot of courage. Up to this point, we see no reason for not letting you in our Order."

This was enough to free her from a huge weight, for now, the trust seemed not to be a problem between this people, as long as you deserved it…

"But be warned Rukia," said Ichigo, which made her heart skip a beat, "treason in our order is punished with total prosecution and death. We have been betrayed many times before, and we have survived all of them. So be warned, shall you betray the order in any way, we will follow you into the end of the world if necessary, to keep you from talking."

She gulped to his words, and she had already practiced for when the time to hear this conversation came, but it seemed it didn't surprise them at all.

"Well," continued Lorenzo while clapping his hands, "for now young lady, Ichigo will continue the introduction to our Order, I wish you good luck, and hope that we shall meet again someday."

"So do I your Majesty," she said while bowing.

"Oh, leave the formalities, call me Lorenzo please..."

"Ok, sir, I will."

Suddenly, Ichigo quickly started running and grabbed her without a warning, "come with me Rukia," said Ichigo while grabbing her hand.

"Wha-?!" was the only thing she could say before he took them both out of the room, leaving the young ruler alone.

_Those two will become a hell of a couple, I'm sure of it…_ he thought while getting back to what he was doing…

"Ichigo! Where are we going?" she asked while trying to keep up with him.

"You'll see."

They ran outside of the palace and went to a nearby chapel, whose campanile was one of the tallest in Florence.

"Follow me," he said before starting to climb the tower.

She felt a little scared, considering she had no practice in free-running.

"What is it _midget?_" mocked Ichigo, "scared of heights?"

_Ok, that's it…_

As soon as he finished, she quickly started following him to the top of the chapel's campanile, it was like a competition, though it was a little unfair, since Ichigo had a lot more years practicing…

"What is it? You're staying behind!"

"Oh, shut up and continue!" she shouted.

When she finally reached the top, Ichigo was already there offering his hand to help her. She accepted without discussion, since she was already very tired from the running and climbing.

"I am… going to need… a lot of practice," she said while catching up her air.

"Look over there Rukia," he said while pointing his finger to the sun.

She slowly turned her head to where he was pointing at, and she was delighted with a very beautiful scene of a Florentine sunset in the horizon, the reddish-orange sun beams across the clouds were a scenery worthy of painting…

"We Assassins…" he started, catching Rukia's attention, "we have existed for a very long time, Rukia… In this modern age, we are not as literal as our ancestors; but our seal is no less permanent…"

Surprised by his deep words, her opinion of the assassins went up when realizing she's only met good people until now, people that care for other people, and that have the courage to fight for what they believe…

"The fight is tough, and as much as we don't like it, innocents will die, allies will die… but… I give you my word… that it's worth it…"

He extended his arm to her and said, "Let's make this a better world together shall we?"

"I promise I will do everything I can… Ichigo," she answered while taking his hand too.

In the small time they shook hands; Ichigo was caught with a scene more beautiful than heaven itself. With the sun against her face, Rukia seemed to be a fallen angel from heaven, her lips tenting him up to the point to loose control.

_WAIT! THE HELL WAS THAT?! YOU JUST MET HER! _He thought while shaking his thoughts out of his head. He decided it was best for both of them to leave now before he lost control of himself…

"Lets go Rukia, you'll stay at the Palazzo tonight," he said before jumping out the tower and into a stack of straw at the bottom of the chapel without even a small warning.

But… she quickly realized something was very wrong… _Shit! That idiot!_

"WAIT! ICHIGO YOU IDIOT! I CAN'T DO THAT YET!"

_To be continued…_

**Hello people, hope you enjoyed the chapter :D Remember to REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE XD.****Tell me how I write, if too something, or you want more something, I accept ALL suggestions, as long as they are constructive :D.**

_**(A/N): **_**Infiltrazione Nella Fraternità = Infiltration in the Brotherhood**


	5. Formazione per Assassinare

**Hi again my fellow readers ****. Sorry about taking so damn long for writing, I was kinda like taking a breake :P. But here I am again, and now that there are vacations I hope to write a little more, hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am XD. Well, on to the story. Enjoy and don't forget to review :D ! Oh, just one thing, I don't why but I'm starting to add random words in Italian, guess that it's just to add some variety to the writing, please tell me if it bothers you, if you like, etc. If you don't like it people I'll just stop it ****. **

_Ch. 5 Formazione per Assassinare_

She was sweating rivers, her heart was about to jump out of her throat, and she could feel her head spinning without control, "I-Ichigo… _gasp…_i-it's too hard_… gasp…_I-I can't do it."

"Come on Rukia, _provare meglio_, I know you can do it!" She really seemed to be giving the best of her, but no matter how many times she tried, it seemed this wasn't going to be the day…

"Again Rukia! Uno…due…tre!" She let out a loud scream as she… fell to a mountain of dirty straw.

"Puagh!" she complained while trying to spit the pieces of straw out of her mouth. "Damnit!_" Useless shinigami powers, it seems the training techniques are too different._

Suddenly, a pair of hands started clapping not too far away from where she was, "Good Rukia good, you jumped five more buildings than last time, you're getting better." Ichigo was above a nearby building while watching his new… _student, _practice free-running in the houses of Florence.

"Yeah right, you're only saying that to make me feel better." She watched as he jumped from the border of the roof and landed easily in two feet without even doing the usual rolling after landing…

"Stuck-up…"

"Now now, don't be angry, remember practice makes the master," he said while getting closer to help her.

"You know, this _free-running _thingy is harder than I thought. How long did it take you to master it?"

"Well…" he said while looking at the sky…

"You know what? Forget it, I'll find out by myself…"

"He, yeah good idea. Hey, you got straw in your hair." She watched as he touched her hair to help her, which of course, made blush deeply enough for him to notice…

"Awwwww, ain't that cute? You're blu-ARGH!!" He rubbed his recently punched head while seeing her holding a… broom?

"Damnit _midget_, the hell's wrong with-ARGH! Cut it out already!" And yet again, he watched as she held that _who the hell knows where she got from_ broom while she saw him with a death glare, "You know what I think about being called a _midget_, _strawberry_!"

His head was still hurting, but he enjoyed so much the moments when she was angry, that he started laughing…

"Hey! Strawberry!" she shouted, but he ignored her, "Hey! Are you listening?!" And still, no answer. A vein popped out of her head, and she raised the broom with all the intention of inflicting a severe damage in the strawberry before her.

"You damned strawbe-" but just when she was going to hit him, a _conveniently placed _tree root made her loose her balance. But she didn't fell to the floor; instead, Ichigo was in the luckily in the correct place…

By an incredibly absurd luck for us all, a nice scene of both Ichigo and Rukia almost hugging could be seen in an unpopulated part of Florence. Up in their heads? They were red, hot, plus some other thoughts. In the middle? Sweaty clothes, product of all the exercise, allowed them both to almost feel each other's skin. And down? Well… you already know that, so why waste my time?

"…"

"…"

They stayed in that position, looking to each others eyes for what seemed to be like hours. It was a feeling almost of restrain, like they both wanted, but at the same time they didn't; or maybe couldn't? It wasn't until a voice interrupted their… _moment_.

"Ehem." They quickly recovered their composure, and pretended nothing had ever happened.

"You know Kurosaki, even now, you still manage to amaze by how you treat women in public…" It was a man around Ichigo's age. He had black hair, a very pale skin, and a thin but athletic body. He was wearing almost the same clothes as Ichigo, except the pants were pure white.

"Oh shut up already," he answered back, "Rukia, this is Uryu, he's a… _pezzo di merda_, most of the time, but he's a friend."

She slowly walked to where he was and extended her hand to greet him. "Kuchiki Rukia, seeing as how Ichigo speaks of you, you mustn't be that bad."

He took her hand and slightly kissed it as a more _gentleman _way of greeting, "Ishida Uryu, if you can also notice Ichigo's _idiozia_ as a human being… it is a pleasure to meet you."

_In the background, the typical groan of "I'm jealous and angry but I'll never say it" could be heard. _

"Well, this was a nice meeting and all but we gotta go, let's go Rukia." He didn't even let her answer back as he took her arm and literally forced her to follow him.

"Ichigo wait! I can walk by myself!" But it was no use, Ichigo was in _I don't care_ mode, so any intents of breaking into his brain were useless for now until they reached their destination.

_A few forced minutes of walking later…_

"We're here," he finally said after dragging her to who knows where.

"Thanks for releasing me Ichigo... And by the way…"

"Hmm? What is it-ARGH!" Once again, his head was almost broken with a direct hit of her fist.

"NEVER, do that again ok?" she ordered as she pointed him with a finger…

"Yeah yeah. Well now, the next part of your training begins," he said as he pointed to one of the buildings in the street. Above the wooden door, hanging from the red brick wall was a sign that said: _La Rosa Colta_

"Ichigo..."

"Hm?"

"It's a bordello."

"Yeah, so?"

"…"

"…"

"What?-ARGH!!!! GOD DAMNIT WOMAN STOP IT ALREADY!!!!" This was the hardest hit he had received from her until now, and this time it wasn't a broom, it was another _who the hell knows where she got from_ chair.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU INTEND TO MAKE ME TRAIN HUH, HOW TO BE A COURTESAN?!?!"

"I-it's not what you think!"

"Yeah right, _maldetto pervertito degenerato_…"

"Just follow me ok? I promise it's not what you think."

She really had her doubts about this, but she opted for trusting him, and obeyed. He knocked the door, and a few moments later a lady in her late fifties wearing a dark-red dress with golden ornaments and a light-red veil came out from the door.

"Ahh, Ichigo. Hello, how are you doing?" she asked while kissing him in the cheeks.

"_Molto bene_ Paola, _grazie_,"

"So what brings you here today Ichigo? I haven't heard from you in weeks."

He twisted his eyes signaling her to see Rukia. "Oh, what do we here? A new trainee maybe?"

She had a sudden tick in her right eye when hearing the word "trainee". "Um, sorry but, I'm not into.."

"Don't bother dear, I know what you're thinking of, but don't worry it's not "that" kind of trainee."

"Oh…" She felt a little embarrassed since she had just called the old lady a _whore, _maybe not literally, but that's what it meant.

"It seems Ichigo here wanted_ me _to explain you, come inside, will you?" They both obeyed and entered the bordello, though it seemed it wasn't a busy day since there were no _clients _on the view.

"It looks better from the inside," Rukia said to break the silence.

"They've told me so… Well, on to the main theme. Rukia, we the assassins have our main power in three factions: courtesans, thieves, and mercenaries, each faction with its own leader, which are high ranking assassins. I'm the leader of the courtesans here in Florence, and we are the masters of "blending".

"Blending?"

"Yes, blending. _The art of seen…but not seen. _It is a must between the skills of an assassin, since it ensures our secrecy between the general people, and other _unwanted_ attentions."

"I see, are you are going to teach me?"

"No sweetie, I'm too old for all that stuff already, let me introduce you to your new teacher." She walked to a nearby stairway and looked up to the second floor. "Orihime! Please come down, I need to tell you something!"

"I'm on my way!" Was the answer they heard.

A few minutes later, a nice and pretty but a little clumsy looking girl with caramel hair came down the stairway. She was wearing a light-red dress decorated with silver ornaments.

"Yes Paola, what is it? Araa! Ciao, Kurosaki-kun!"

"Hello Inoue, buon promeriggio."

She had a friendly face, and so Rukia thought it would be nice to be friends with her,

"Umm, hello, I'm Kuchiki Rukia, it's nice to meet you," she said as she extended her hand to greet her.

"Oh! Hi there! I'm Inoue Orihime, hope we can be friends!" Her happy and cheery voice reminded her of Rangiku, and it seemed it would be a very nice relationship.

"So do I," she answered back happily.

"Well, that was a nice meeting," interrupted Paola, "but we have other things to do right now so…"

"What is it Paola, something's wrong?" asked Inoue.

"Oh no, but Rukia here is a new trainee in the Assassin Order; and you know what that means right?"

"Oh I see, of course. Rukia, come with me." She grabbed her hand and led her outside of the building, out of both Ichigo's and Paola's sight.

"Won't you go to supervise her training Ichigo?" Paola asked.

"No, I got some other things to do right now; my old man needs some help with something."

"I see… I will see you later then."

"_Ciao_ Paola."

"Oh, and Ichigo."

"What is it?"

"She's a very nice girl, so protect her if necessary ok?" Her tone seemed serious, but the kind of tone you use when asking for an important favor, so Ichigo took it seriously, "I will Paola, don't worry."

She nodded once, and let him depart. _It seems God has given you a nice opportunity, don't waste it Ichigo…_

_Outside in the streets of Florence…_

"Ok Rukia, we're here." Inoue had led them both to a crowded plaza in front of the basilica _Di Santa Maria del Fiore_.

"Umm, why are we here?" Rukia asked confused.

"_Giggle…_ we are here to start your _blending_ train!" she answered cheerfully.

"My-my _blending_ training? So soon? I can't even keep up with Ichigo in free-running yet!"

"Well, it's not like you were going to in the first few days of train, he's not the third best assassin in Italy for nothing!"

"The-the third best?!" She had supposed he was good, but not that much, the news were really shocking for her.

"Yep, and his father is the second in command of all the Order, so I guess it must be from family," she said nonchalant.

_His father must be a crazy brute, hope I don't have to meet him soon… _

"But don't worry about that for now; right now you need to concentrate in your training, follow me." She started walking across the crowded streets while holding her hands in front of her. Rukia was having some trouble following her, since the streets were so crowded.

"As we try to achieve our goals," she started, "we need to be in constant alert for the guards." Her words made Rukia remember her little _trouble_ with the guards a couple of days ago. "And _anytime_ we do _anything, _weattract the attention of the guards. And so, one of the most important assets of an assassin, it's his ability to remain _incognito._"

They arrived to the center of another plaza before stopping in the middle of all the people. "So in other to achieve that, you need to learn to use _everything_ that surrounds you."

She pointed to a nearby bench where two people were sitting, "the benches," then to a cart with a lot of straw, "our surroundings," and she finally extended her arms to show all the people, "and everyone that surrounds you can be used to hide yourself… And remember, information is our most powerful weapon."

Rukia started to observe all of her surroundings, and tried to notice _everything _that was important. From the benches, to the people, to the ceilings, the guards, she tried to recognize everything. And all of a sudden, her respect and opinion for the brown-eyed girl before her rose highly.

"And now!" she suddenly said cheerfully, "a training game!"

"…HUH?!"

"Yep! _You_ have to _find_ me_ and _catch mefor your first lesson!"

"What? Are you serious?" She hardly believed that could be called training…

"Like a heart attack!" _Wow, she said it more cheerfully than anyone else would have… or should have…_

"I won't go out of this plaza, but it won't be easy, no one has managed to catch me the first time until now!"

"Wait!" But it was no use, the only thing she heard before she disappeared between the crowded plaza… was a very happy giggle…

_Damnit. _She turned everywhere trying to find any clue of her position, only to find… nothing. _This definitely won't be easy…_

She started by trying to move between the crowded plaza, and even that wasn't easy, people pushed her, cursed her, and some even _touched_ her. Sadly for her, they disappeared before she could release her anger.

After some minutes of searching, she saw in a mountain of straw what seemed to be pieces of light-red clothe overlapping the top of the small mountain. _Aha! Found you!_

"Here you a-," but no, it was just what it seemed to be, pieces of clothe…

_Giggle…_ She immediately recognized the cheerful giggle behind her, and quickly turned around to see her caramel-haired _teacher _looking at her with a very happy face…

"No no no, it won't be that easy Rukia-chan!" And before she could react, she quickly disappeared again between the crowds. _Damnit, how comes she's so good at this?_

She started to search again, between the people, in the benches, in the straw, but there was no luck…

Suddenly, a gleam of hope crossed her eyes, a woman with the exact same clothes was walking through a group of people, but she decided to go check before any hopes grew…

"Orihime!" But destiny was definitely playing with her today… "What? Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, wrong person." She felt embarrassed, but didn't give much attention to it…

_Orihime's POV…_

_Giggle… She'll never find me… _She decided to have a little fun and scare her from behind… _Let's see, where is she? _She quickly distinguished her small figure, standing near a cart with a mountain of red flowers with her arms crossed… _Giggle… She'll never suspect… _She started to head to where she was slowly. She extended her arms and…

"RUKIA-CHAN!!"

"…HUH?!" _…A straw dummy?!?!_

"GOTCHA!!"

"WHAT?!" But the effort was useless; Rukia had totally found _and_ caught her.

"HAHA! YAY I GOT YOU!" She started jumping and clapping like a little girl without caring about the stares of other people.

_She actually managed to catch me… _She was very surprised at the beginning, but now as an official friend she started celebrating with her, and so they decided to jump and clap for a while…

_A couple of hours later, in La Rosa Colta…_

"Oh my God that was fun!"

"Sure it was!"

They had spend the evening together around the city, doing what girls have always done and will do for as long as mankind exists… shopping.

"Oh, I see you two girls enjoyed yourselves," said Paola who had just came out of a room, "and how was the training?"

"Oh we finished hours ago," Inoue said, "she actually managed, not only to _catch_ me, she did it in less than an hour!"

Paola actually seemed very surprised, she raised both arrows and started clapping slightly as a congratulations. "Wow, impressive young lady, this are really interesting news, it's the first time I've heard someone is able to catch her in the first try, much less in the first hour!"

Rukia blushed slightly and turned her head for them not to notice, but she couldn't help a smile to form on her face…

"Well, you both must be very tired. Rukia, you can stay tonight in Orihime's room, it is a dark night and you still don't know how to properly defend yourself."

"Thank you Paola."

"YAY, SLEEPING PARTY!" _Wow, she takes wastes no time to celebrate about something… _"It'll be so fun Rukia! We'll tell stories, talk about boys, it'll be fantastic!"

"Orihime? Why don't you go prepare Rukia's bed, I need a moment with her."

"Ok, see you upstairs Rukia!" She was gone so fast Rukia didn't notice, she was more worried about the sudden seriousness in Paola's voice…

"Come here dear," she said as she signaled Rukia to sit with her.

"Something wrong Paola?" She sat with her, and Paola slowly grabbed her hand and put it in her lap. "Dear, this is a question I ask each new trainee of the Order. I asked it to Orihime, and I'll ask you…"

She already knew what was coming, but it didn't help at all to make her feel less nervous…

"Are you really sure you want to join the Assassins? It is a life full of danger, death, and risks. No one can tell if you'll make it alive, and you won't be protected all the time, the templars are rude less, and they won't care if you are a woman… or a child…"

She thought about it for a second, the idea of killing and risking her life with something more dangerous than hollows themselves was something that actually managed to make her flinch… but she had a mission.

Taking the most serious expression she could make, she looked directly to Paola's eyes and said: "…I am sure."

The much older and wiser woman before her stared at her eyes for a moment before letting out a huge sigh… "I see that you are determined, and nothing I tell you will stop it. I only ask you to be very careful, and never forget… that we are all here to help you…"

_Wow… these people are truly good and loyal, I hope the mission ends how I'm thinking…_

"Thank you Paola, I promise I'll take good care of myself."

The older Assassin gave her a warm smile, and demonstrated that she truly trusted her. "Very well, go now, Orihime is waiting for you."

"Oh! You're right!" She took her recently bought luggage and started heading upstairs, "thanks for everything Paola!"

She watched her disappear in the stairway and hoped that everything would end ok.

…_Take care dear…_

_To be Continued_

**Weeeeell? How was it? Hope it was good ****. Just wanted to remind you to review, tell me what you like, what you don't, remember I get better with your opinions, plus they give me a reason to continue ****. Well, hope you enjoyed the story, and don't forget to REVIEW!**

**A/N: Formazione per Assassinare- Training to Assassinate**


	6. La Prima Missione

**HOLY SHIT, it's been a while. Well, let's just say that I had a VERY LONG low low low motivation period, don't know, guess it's one of those times you start wondering whether it's even worth it or not. But then, after some time I realized I missed the feeling of writing ****. Which is very surprising, because I don't even know why I had lost that motivation, but well, enough with the melodrama, let's get to what you guys like, Ichiruki n.n. Please enjoy, and also review ****, don't let me loose my motivation again :D.**

_Ch. 6 L__a__Prima Missione_

When training to be an assassin, you might begin to wonder whether your ideals are on the right place or not. But for someone like Rukia Kuchiki, such an argument is not even allowed. She has a mission to accomplish in the name of justice, but that doesn't mean justice is going to make it easier for her…

"One hundred and forty eight, one hundred and forty nine... one hundred and fifty. ALRIGHT RUKIA THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TODAY!" Counting to such a number while doing exercise would usually mean a certain number of push-ups, fighting techniques, or something we would call… "exercising". But for an assassin trainee like our raven-haired shinigami, it means how many building have been jumped on.

"Seriously? Come on, I can still go on!" She argued, feeling unsatisfied with her training. Her pride as a shinigami didn't allow her to be defeated by such a simple training like free-running, but that wasn't her orange-haired "teacher's" way of seeing things.

"Easy Rukia, remember, _la calma è la virtù dei forti. _You need to be patient and wait for your abilities to gradually grow up," he said wisely. Being the third most skilled assassin in Italy wasn't just for being strong; it also demonstrated an ability to learn quickly, and how to be able to transmit such knowledge.

She sighed in discomfort for her slow development, but decided to follow his advice in order to prevent any further discussions.

"Let's go have some lunch; Orihime prepared some for both of us." He took out two small boxes filled with sandwiches neatly ordered inside the wooden case.

"Really? Orihime did? How nice," she said happily. Training continuously for five hours could tire even Hercules himself. They sat on the edge of the ceiling they currently on and started eating their lunch. "You should learn from her, you and your sarcastic face could scare even the blind."

"Oh come on, I can be nice too," he said trying to defend himself.

"Oh yeah, of course you can, when you're asleep and no one has to hear your ironic comments," she said with a mocking face. She was deliberately trying to tease him.

"Oh shut up and eat your food, you and your _midget_ figure ain't going to ruin my lunch."

"Of course I will… _strawberry_-sensei."

_Groan_. "You little…"

"So tell me", she interrupted, "how much time have you been teaching?" She was curious about his experience as a teacher, with him being so young she didn't expect much.

"I've trained 10 students, and they have all become master assassins." He said nonchalant.

"WHAT? You're 21 years old and you have already trained 10 master assassins?" Surprised would diminish her current feelings, she was astonished.

"Yeah, it ain't that impressive, really." She knew he was being modest, so young and already a teacher was something to be surprised about, something that actually made her wonder…

"But… if you are so skilled, why do you bother to teach me when I'm so inexperienced? You could have just sent me with someone else…"

He started to choke in his own sandwiches upon hearing those words. She seemed rather surprised by the reaction and helped him by patting his back.

"Be-because I…," he was having trouble finding an answer, especially because he didn't know it himself. But he wasn't going to give her strange ideas about him, so he opted for a plain and simple answer, "because I saw potential in you."

"Potential… in me?" She was a little confused by his statement, considering he had to save her from being killed the first time he saw her.

"Ye-yeah, I saw potential in you, so I decided to see by myself how far you could go…" He started to notice his face was getting hotter, so he turned around for her not to see his blush.

"Potential…" she was actually very happy for being praised, and was having one of those moments where you can't contain a smile from forming in your face.

They remained still in an awkward silence until they were called by a familiar and cheery voice.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san!" They both turned their heads to see a familiar face with caramel hair waving at them. Using the nearby scaffoldings they were able to quickly go down the building to their cheery friend's level.

"Woooow! Kuchiki-san, you've improved so much in just a week of training!" She seemed honestly happy about her new friend and praised her. "Of course, I never waste time," she said while puffing her chest in pride.

"Inoue, did you need us for something?" Ichigo asked noticing a deviation from the main theme.

"Oh, of course, haha, silly me. Paola wanted to see you at _La Rosa Colta_. She says it's concerning Kuchiki-san's training."

"Paola did? Very well, I'll go ahead and see her. Rukia, it's enough training for today, go and rest for a while." Not even bothering to hear an answer, he went ahead to La Rosa Colta, leaving the cheerful assassin and the trainee behind him.

"Come on Kuchiki-san, I know a nice place to take a bath," she said happily while dragging her by the arm.

"Wha-?" But she couldn't even answer back, as her arm was already being pulled by the long-haired woman before her. _Haha, honestly, I wonder how she can be so cheerful every time…_

They arrived at the _Palazzo Medici, _and after telling the grumpy guard the correct password they were allowed to enter.

Orihime took her to a secluded place deep inside the _palazzo,_ where only a wooden door was the sole way to continue.

"Ta-daa!" As she gracefully opened the door, a scene the tired assassin-to-be had been wishing to see could be devised. An enormous bath with pure and clear water coming from a fountain that covered the whole wall, and a pool-like bath that spread over at least half of the room made the raven-haired girl cry in happiness.

"Isn't it impressive? Lorenzo-san allows us to use it as we wish!"

"_È__bellisimo_ Inoue," she answered while covering her mouth with both of her hands in amusement.

"Come on Kuchiki-san, let's not waste time and enjoy ourselves."

_Some undressing later…_

The tired trainee started to enter gracefully in the bath-pool, trying to feel as much of the water as possible, so no sensation of the clean liquid would be lost as it touched her milky-white skin.

"Oh my god, _è__come__nascere__di nuovo_." The feeling she sensed right now could be described as the touch of a thousand angels, carefully treating her skin, like it was a so delicate it had to be thoroughly taken care of.

As she enjoyed the wonderful sensation, her brown-eyed friend, who apparently took more time to get undressed, joined her in the enormous bath just as carefully as she did, enjoying every bit of sensation the water could offer.

"Ahhhhh, so good." It seemed she knew well how to enjoy the sensation. "Doesn't matter how many times I get in, the water never seems to feel any less relaxing."

They remained quiet for a while, trying to savor the touch of the clean water in their skins. Neither of them exchanged any words, knowing how talking could ruin the sensation.

After what seemed to be about an hour, Orihime decided to break the silence with a very… original question…

"Tell me something Kuchiki-san, do you like Kurosaki-kun?"

…Oh the reaction was priceless…

The surprise was so tremendous that the contraction of her muscles literally made her slip in her own butt, hitting herself in the head with the pool's edge, and finally ending with a near dead experience by drowning.

"Wh-What?" She felt the immediate need to shout with all of her strength, which echoed around the room.

"You see? Haha, I knew you did." Apparently celebrating her correct deduction, she started to clap happily while looking at the girl in front of her with a smile full of pure innocence.

"O-of course I don't, he's just my teacher!" Desperately trying to find something that didn't compromise her more than the situation already did, she used the first excuse she could think of. But of course, it wasn't of any help.

"Then, why are you so red?" She asked with a smiley face.

_Dammit, she's perceptive. _"Th-tha's because…" Either she found a smart answer in the next five seconds, or she was going to have Orihime's comments and questions all over her for the next couple of days. "be-because I…" but the heat in her face, the fast beating of her heart, and the stare of Orihime's brown eyes were too much for her to handle. _Time to run away…_

"A-anyway, it's getting late so we should get going," she quickly stood up and stepped outside of the bath. Taking a towel to cover her body, she started to walk away from the bath, trying to leave behind a friend who didn't know the meaning of the words "giving up".

"Come on Kuchiki-san, tell me, curiosity is killing me," she uselessly tried to take out information from her, and even followed her after taking a towel, but the shinigami was harder to break than she though.

"I feel nothing for him!" She shouted.

As she opened the door, she realized the worst decision she could have made was trying to run away from the conversation, as she knew that, knowing Orihime, she would start talking about girly things sooner or later…

"I…Ichigo…" Before her stood a semi-naked, 1.74 m, orange-haired assassin with only a towel covering the lower half of his body. They stood in there for what felt to be an eternity, staring deeply against each other while trying to comprehend the current situation.

As she stood there, she seemed to have forgotten to hold into the towel covering her body, as it slowly slipped out of her hands, exposing the beautiful milky white skin of her body.

Letting out a huge gasp, she quickly got angry at Ichigo for being at the wrong place at the wrong time…

"Iiiiichiiigooo…" Veins started to form at her head as she sent a death stare at the assassin with the bad luck.

_Oh God help me…._

A huge and sharp scream of pain could be heard all over the _Palazzo_…

_A few punches, kicks, screams and bandages later…_

"Ouch!" He felt a shooting pain as Orihime tried to apply some ointment in the bruises of his face, left by the punches of a raging assassin.

"Come on Kurosaki-kun, I can't heal you if you move." She tried to apply the cure as carefully as she could, but it seemed some bruises were going to leave a mark for a while, so she couldn't do much but hope it didn't hurt that much.

"I'm trying to. Ouch!" The pain of each bruise was no different between each other, revealing that every punch and kick was given with the same amount of force and anger as the one that came before.

"You should just let him feel the pain Inoue, he deserves it," said the angry shinigami with a death stare.

"I told you that it was an accident at least two times before each hit you gave me," he answered back, "doesn't matter how many times I tried to explain or apologize, you just ignored me and continued to hit me!"

"Liar, you are shameless pervert."

"Che, as if you had anything to brag about at all," he said with a low voice.

"You want to die now don't you?"

"Come on guys, don't fight, we are all friends here." In response to the comment the teacher and the student gave each other a dead stare, leaving Orihime only one option… change the theme.

"B-by the way Kurosaki-kun, what did Paola wanted to tell you?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot." He slowly stood up trying not to worsen the state of his bruises. He took his garments and covered the bandages in his body. "Rukia."

"Hm?"

"Prepare your things; we're leaving tomorrow to Venice."

"Venice? What are we doing there?" She felt confused to hear she would be leaving Florence, but she needed to know why they would be leaving.

"Your first mission."

"My first mission? So soon?" Not to confuse her reaction with scare. She felt exited to know she was already going to have her first mission. "Congratulations Kuchiki-san! You're receiving your first mission!" The caramel haired assassin started to celebrate with her, giving her a huge bear hug. (Something that makes Rukia very self-conscious about the difference in their bodies.)

"Yes, we are to receive the details in Venice. Plus, we need you to meet the Grand Master."

The cheerful celebration stopped in the act after hearing the words "Grand Master".

"…The Grand Master?" Her heart starting beating faster, her forehead started sweating rivers, and she could feel how her voice wasn't coming out of her mouth.

"Oh don't look so scared Kuchiki-san," the cheery assassin said, "he is a really nice person." Her smile was enough to make her calm down a bit, but she was still pretty nervous about meeting a person she was supposed to betray if necessary.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the front of the Palazzo when the sun raises Rukia, don't be late." Without even a goodbye he left the two friends.

"Come on Kuchiki-san, we should sleep early today, you have to travel a long distance tomorrow."

Leaving the room they used to cure Ichigo's bruises, they decided to sleep at the Palazzo that night. Knowing it was meaningless for each to use a separate room, they opted to use a single room for both of them. The bedroom was beautifully decorated with paintings, hand-made wooden tables, a huge bed and two immense windows in the walls.

After changing to their respective night clothes, they quickly threw themselves in bed to enjoy the softness after a hard day of work.

"Aaaaah, so good," they said together. They covered themselves with the sheets, and enjoyed the feeling quietly for a while.

"Got any family Inoue?" Even though they were looking at opposite directions, she felt the need to get closer to her, knowing she would need support from someone close to her in days to come.

"Nope. My family was killed in front of me by the templars when I was fifteen."

Feeling like she just made something horrible, she quickly turned around her body to face Orhime's. "I'm so sorry; I made you remember something bad."

Following her reaction, she also turned around to face her, but her expression was not one of anger, it was one of compassion.

"Don't worry; it's been a while since I could talk to someone like this. Would you mind to hear the rest of the story Kuchiki-san?" Her voice demonstrated a need to be heard, a need for the love of a close friend. "I wouldn't mind at all Inoue." She answered with a friendly voice, showing her she was there to listen. They were facing each other in the bed, looking directly at each other's eyes.

"Thank you." She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breathe, preparing herself mentally. It seemed she hadn't talked like these to anyone in a long time…

_I was born in the outsides of Florence, in a small farm near the mountains. We lived humbly, but I had a good life with my mom, my dad and my brother. We were all very happy, and we loved each other._ The feeling of her voice made Rukia imagine perfectly the every scene Inoue described her. The mountains, the crops, her family, it seemed she could still remember every bit of her every day life.

_Some time after the templars started to gain more and more power, taxes started to rise too. They kept coming to our home asking for more and more money, until they left us with nothing._ Her voice started to change slowly to a sadder one, similar to when you remember… fear…

_One day we weren't able to get the money they were asking for, so my dad begged them for more time, but they wouldn't listen..._ A small tear fell off from her eye, leaving a small stain in the sheets.

"Do you want to stop?"

"No no, please listen until the end." She cleaned the tear in her face and continued to stare at her.

"Ok, I will listen."

Taking another deep breath, she continued. _The templars wouldn't leave us alone, I was really scared. Suddenly I heard my brother scream and my mother came running inside the house, she looked scared and all of her body was shaking._ Her hand started shaking along with the story, so Rukia took it and smiled at her, trying to give her confidence, which seemed to work very well. Returning the smile, she never stopped again.

_My mother didn't explain anything to me; she just took my hand and dragged me inside the house, telling me to hide. I didn't want to, but she insisted, so I obeyed and hid in a nearby closet. A small opening was left between the doors, so I could see clearly what was happening inside the house. After some time two guards entered the house and asked my mother for the location of any valuables. Of course my mother answered there were none, but they didn't believe her… I saw how the guard stabbed my mother with a long sword…_

"Inoue…"

_I was so scared I started crying, but it was the worst thing I could do. One of the guards heard me and found me inside the closet. I couldn't do anything to defend myself, they were too strong._ "Haha, and the old woman said there were no valuables, it would be a shame to waste such a chance." _I still remember those words clearly. They took me to the kitchen and stripped off my clothes. I screamed and screamed but nobody came. One of guards held me of the hands and restrained me against the table._

Taking a deep gulp, Rukia tried to keep her composure, something very difficult if you had to listen to such a story in person. But she did it for her friend.

_They raped me one after the other for at least an hour. I reached a point where I didn't care about anything anymore, I knew they would kill me after they got bored, so I was ready to give up…_

_But then, a huge scream could be heard from outside the house, along with the sound of a quick stab. Both of the guards quickly ran outside to see what was happening and left me with one of the guards._

_A moment later, I could clearly hear the sound of a sword fight, but it ended quickly. A man in a white robe entered the house. The guard that was left went berserk and attacked him, but I saw how he was quickly killed by the other man. I thought he was going to kill me too, but I was already prepared to die anyway…_

_But he didn't kill me, instead he quickly ran to help me. He covered me with a mantle and carried me all the way to the city by himself…_

"That person… was it…"

"It was Kurosaki-kun when he was sixteen."

"So it was Ichigo…"

Inoue nodded in agreement to confirm her doubts. "After that I was taken with Paola, who has taken care of me like a mother since then. I was presented to the Order when I was eighteen, and they give the choice to join them if I wished to."

"But, don't you dislike being a courtesan? After such an experience…"

"At the beginning I refused, I was too angry and scared to fight against the templars… But then I met other courtesans, with stories very similar to my own. They all had their families killed by templars, and they felt very proud of helping the assassins. I myself have prevented many innocent deaths." She said proudly with a smile.

"You are amazing Inoue, I truly admire you." She thought she represented emotional strength, the strength to fight your fears and to fight for what you believe.

"Thank you Kuchiki-san, it means a lot. And don't feel pressured to tell me about you, you can take your time."

"Someday I will Inoue." It was improbable, but she didn't discard the idea.

They turned back their bodies and decided to go to sleep…

"Say, Kuchiki-san."

"Hm?"

"Can I call you… Rukia…-chan?"

"Of course… Orihime."

"Say, Rukia-chan."

"Hm?"

"Will we always be… friends?"

"… Of course we will."

_Giggle. _"_Grazie mille_… Rukia-chan."

"Sei il benvenuto… Orihime…"


End file.
